I’ve noticed that when the weather changes from calm to fairly breezy, or from threatening to actual hard downpour, that a multitude of emergency vehicle sirens start up.
After observing each type of siren-starting weather this weekend, I noted it to my friend, who confirmed this observation, but we couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation. We don’t think the weather offers longer distances for sounds, and I don’t think house alarms are that touchy.
So I’m asking here: what is it about the wind and the rain that requires emergency response?
They trigger when the weather centers send a dangerous wind, rain, hail, flash flood, or tornado warning. Be glad they don’t always end up as bad as they could be around you. The reason is so you can know in advance when outside or such to pick up, and tie down stuff, and get to a shelter.
I used to be a volunteer EMT and firefighter and lived in the firehouse. When it would just start to rain we knew we would be getting calls, mostly auto accidents. I remember from drivers ed class that the period right when the storm begins the roads are at their slickest, but I don’t remember why. Also, when the storm first starts, a lot of drivers don’t change the way they are driving.
When there was a particularly heavy downpour a week or so ago, I noticed two car alarms in in my locality going off - it may be coincidence, or they may have been set wailing by the intense rain.
When there’s severe weather, tree branches get knocked down and pull down power lines. They’ll call the fire department to block traffic until the utility company can get there and shut off service and repair it.
Lightning can hit power lines or transformer boxes and cause small fires.
As others have said, there are lots of car accidents because of slick road conditions, and sometimes low-lying areas flood and people try to drive through it and get stuck.